Live Auction 6214Pop Culture: Film & Entertainment Memorabilia
Houdini
Lot 67

Houdini

Closed23 November 2011

Price Realised

GBP 2,250

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Houdini
A Chinese Garrotte, cast metal clamp with tightening mechanism stamped 62542A and a button hook; matted with a black and white photograph of the magician in shackles, and a letter concerning the provenance -- overall measurements 16¼x25¼in. (41x64cm.) box framed; accompanied by two letters concerning provenance (one loose) (2)

Ex-lot 421 Houdini Magical Hall of Fame & The Houdini-Hardeen Collection, Butterfields, Los Angeles, 15 November, 1999

Specialist note

The accompanying button hook was Houdini's simple tool for manipulating the garrotte's lock to allow his 'miraculous' escape. The Garrotte is a simple, and highly effective tool used as a form of tortuous death, by a means of a slow and painful strangulation. The mechanism is slowly turned, simply tightening the pressure on the neck.